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letting us into your homes during these extraordinary times. we are grateful. "the beat" with ari melber starts right now. hi, ari. >> hi, nicolle. thanks so much. welcome to "the beat." i'm aarri melber. it is tuesday, exactly one month out from the election. i can tell you off top one of the most common maga talking points about kamala harris that you've probably heard is taking a hard fall today. trump has been arguing that she wasn't doing any or enough press interviews. and you'll remember when she first stepped up as the nominee. it was a frenetic stretch where she launched a new campaign, a convention, a fund-raising operation, and picked a running mate. all of that over several weeks, faster than anyone in history because of the switch. and trump and his allies had been hammering that she wasn't doing interviews then or enough. they've been hammering this line of attack. well, the harder they come, the harder they fall, one and all. as jimmy cliff famously put it. respect. because that would apply right

now. this maga talking point is taking a hard fall as harris steps up to journalistic interviews while trump ducks them, like on "60 minutes." and harris also leading a media blitz this week from classic forums like "the view." i haven't seen trump on there recently. to howard stern, which i'll get to in a minute. to these new media podcasts where she's engaging with different independent media hosts and their sometimes younger audiences. so that talking point has taken a hard fall. and here is just some of the harris tour. >> kamala harris has been a candidate for president for just 2 1/2 months. >> we are thrilled that joining us right now for her very first talk show appearance -- >> vice president. >> alex. >> welcome to call her daddy. >> it is good to be with you. >> please welcome back the next president of the united states. >> i'm here on a special day. i was supposed to have a day

off. i'd only come in for the vice president of the united states. >> a whole lot of women out here who, one, are not aspiring to be humble. >> we just played prince all night long. we danced, we sang his songs. >> when you become president, will you come back on "the view"? >> of course i will. >> so that's just some of what's been happening on this ongoing tour. and these are the mainstream outlets which many campaigns court. and harris is using them to of course take the hard questions sometimes. also get her message out. she talked a range of policy and took the questions again on the forum that most nominees usually go to, both party nominees. i'll get into why trump wasn't there. but these are the kind of questions that this cycle she is the only nominee answering on "60 minutes." >> so what kind of gun do you own and when and why did you get it? >> i have a glock. >> was it a mistake to loosen the immigration policies as much as you did?

>> it's a long-standing problem. and solutions are at hand. >> but we're dealing with the real world here. >> but the real world includes -- >> how are you going to get this through congress? >> you know, when you talk quietly with a lot of folks in congress, they know exactly what i'm talking about. >> that's some of the back and forth. the interview ran about 20 minutes. again, trump was not there. those would be fair questions for him as well. how are you going to get something through congress, this congress, which has had multiple republican speakers has not been super effective in terms of passing a lot of domestic legislation. i don't say that as a burn, just an observation. but trump didn't take those questions. and so what the nation saw and i don't have to remind you a lot of voters still watch "60 minutes," was an explanation of why donald trump claimed he would do the interview and then misleadingly backed out while harris was there. this is what people heard last night. >> this year vice president kamala harris and former

president donald trump accepted our invitation. but unfortunately last week trump canceled. the campaign offered shifting explanations. first it complained that we would fact-check the interview. we fact-check every story. later trump said he needed an apology for his interview in 2020. >> if he is not going to give your viewers the ability to have a meaningful, thoughtful conversation, question and answer with you, then watch his rallies. you will not hear about how he's going to try to bring the country together, find common ground. and bill, that is why i believe in my soul and heart the american people are ready to turn the page. >> so that's just some of this playing out on "60 minutes." but there's also a larger dynamic. if this were a one-off about one show, even a great classic well-watched news show like "60

minutes," you might say okay, the candidate has an issue with that show. let's not make a whole meal out of it. but i'm going to show you the evidence that there is a whole meal here even if some of the ingredients are toxic and people have to make up their own mind about what they want to ingest. the information we ingest can be as damaging as other things we put in our body. but the theme here is something i told but last night. it's bigger than "60 minutes" or any single show. we are seeing donald trump run and duck from any place where he thinks he might be held accountable or fact-checked in real time. and that includes places he used to go all the time. which brings us to the shock jock himself, although he's evolved over the years. howard stern. what does howard stern have in common with a venerated news magazine show like "60 minutes"? well, they're both places that were trump's stomping grounds. remember, trump previously went on "60 minutes" and did it last cycle, and we mentioned that. trump and stern go back many

years. this is actually a picture of then the shock jock and then the real estate magnate, or pretend magnate, depending on which financials you believe, together at one of trump's weddings, his first. donald trump has gone on howard stern's show dozens of times. politico has a whole breakdown on that. so this is exactly the kind of thing that donald trump would use on his way up, if you want to call it that. and he used to be able to handle questions from howard stern about a whole range of topics. now what we have is kamala harris going on howard stern and donald trump running away. so his only interviewed this week have been on fox and on a conservative radio show where he thought he would get a certain type of treatment. on howard stern, again, like "60 minutes," a big platform that reaches millions and not all of them are automatically biden-harris administration supporters, kamala harris used this interview while trump runs and hides to discuss her

approach. why she's engaging these different forums. and also put it in the context of what i told you is larger than just beef with one show. the larger theme which you and i may know about and people who follow the news may know about but in october as other people tune in the fact that donald trump has a problem with the courts, independent journalism, and any other independent power structure that might hold him accountable, which raises questions about what his second term would be like. >> he says he's going to be a dictator on day one. what do dictators do? they jail journalists. they put people who are protesting in the street in jail. >> he said he thinks he wants to go after jimmy kimmel, a comedian. he wants to go after stephen colbert and seth meyers. >> now, if jimmy kimmel's not safe, who's safe? it would be a laughing matter except it isn't. because those instincts which

donald trump is not disavowing. the guy's literally running for president. if you believe these state polls, he seems tied. and even in that context where the political benefits might run the other way he still has to blurt out dictator for some of the time, abuse of power some of the time, prosecute his enemies maybe. so this is serious stuff. harris is using this broad swath of different approaches, forums and media to reach people. that includes the journalistic outlets which do fact-check. it includes these radio shows that trump used to go on when he wasn't running scared. while trump is burroing deeper into what you might call his own self-imposed content tunnel. the candidate who as i reminded you at the top of the show accused his opponent of ducking hard questions is the one actually avoiding all the hard questions, whether that's from howard stern or "60 minutes," and then seeking refuge on fox. the harder they fall. fox's outlet, which broadcast so

many proven election lies that after donald trump's loss in 2020 it broadcast those lies and then had to pay a record defamation penalty, so this is not exactly a "60 minutes" level interview here or even a shock jock interview. historically this has been a safe space for maga snowflakes. their terms, not ours. but the defamation penalty was so costly that i can show you tonight how this is even changing things over there. even maga allied hosts are doing some fact checking of trump in real time. so to set up what i'm about to show you i want to just show a basic fact. amidst these terrible hurricanes and all the risk we are facing kamala harris visited north carolina yesterday. now, that's not a big deal one way or the other. it's what you might expect a sitting vice president or major party nominee to do. i can tell you both candidates, trump and harris, have been talking about these threats and have visited some of the affected areas, although on the facts they have a different approach. but that public observable fact

is known. so when donald trump went on fox lying and claiming the opposite about harris, laura ingraham corrected him in front of the fox audience. >> but she shouldn't be there anyway. she should be i would say -- north carolina is so bad. and she should -- >> she was there today for three hours i believe. kamala harris. >> now, that is not how many fox evening hosts handled trump's election lies last campaign season. it is a shift. and notice it comes amidst what i'm telling you about, trump running away from these other forums i mentioned because of fact checking, because of any adversarial effort to hold him accountable is something that right now he would rather avoid and run from even if it squares the circle and shreds his own talking points about the other team doing the thing he's doing. the point i'm exploring here with you tonight is not chiefly about ideology or partisanship, not about whether people vote

for one party or the other, which is a rich tradition in our country and you should do your homework and vote for whoever you choose. i'm not speaking in partisanship, which comes up plenty in campaigns. i'm speaking about a deeper fault line, which i also reported on last night. it's a fault line over facts right now. the maga gop increasingly uses lies as a litmus test. you have to support the lies for trump to be in good standing with the party. and trump awaits a federal trial about election and coup lies. and it does not usually stay neatly contained to just some lies for the leader or just one topic. those are the kind of rationalizations we've heard even right here on this desk from some trump allies or former allies. the lies and disinfo, for example, are spreading now to the federal government's response to hurricane helene and hurricane milton, which is barreling toward florida. and they have consequences. emergency response officials say

the misinformation is confusing residents, who could be in danger. there are echoes here of what it was like when donald trump was president. you remember the covid response, the many lies, the disinformation, the bleach. people have memory holed that, but that matters. that's the person in charge, how they wield the awesome authority they have in office. bob woodard now revealing new scoops about trump sending covid tests to putin's regime back then. there's echoes of president trump doing the disinfo he did in real time when he infamously doctored a hurricane map with a sharpie. the mayor of tampa, which is in the hurricane path, is not making a political or campaign point today. but in a preview of what could be a more serious problem if trump were re-elected, pleading with residents to please, for your own safety focus on the facts from the credible sources including emergency responders, not political propaganda designed to gain power even if

it endangers your life. >> please don't get political on this. this storm is going to affect everybody. and we are getting the help that we need from all of the different governmental officials. hate to break it to you, but a lot of what you see on social media is not factual. stick with the facts. >> still with the facts. and those kinds of officials and authorities generally avoid going further to stir up even more partisanship by saying they're responding to maga lies or donald trump. they're trying to do this in as clear and straightforward a way as possible. but honoring those facts sometimes does require being clear with the public, clear with you about who's doing the lying. this is not a drill. this is not a movie where we imagine a hurricane or a pandemic or foreign policy issues that turn on life and death outcomes to illustrate what we need. this is really happening. it's life and death. and kamala harris amidst taking

the questions that trump is ducking also confronting this today. >> it's profound and it is the height of irresponsibility and frankly callousness. >> yeah. >> so lives are literally at stake right now. and the idea that somebody would be playing political games for the sake of himself. but this is so consistent about donald trump. he puts himself before the needs of others -- i fear that he really lacks empathy. >> you and governor desantis have been going back and forth. >> i have called and talked with, in the course of this crisis, this most recent crisis, democrat and republican governors. >> he'll take your call when you're president. >> yeah. [ cheers and applause ] >> here's the thing you should know on that point. and when i'm president i will continue to call him to see what he needs for help. >> the spirit there of outreach emergency response sans partisanship even against partisan actors.

that is also up for the voters to assess right now, that model of leadership versus what donald trump said. i told you before, politics is often too important to be left to politicians. tonight i will update that with something else that is basic but sometimes i share with you basic straightforward things and repeat them. the truth is way too important to be left up to political liars who do not seem to care whether you the public live or die. we have two special guests here, juanita and melanie when we're back after our shortest break in 90 seconds. break in 90 seconds e. wow, phones are going to be flying to verizon. at verizon, new and existing customers can get iphone 16 pro, on us. trade in any phone, in any condition. only on verizon.

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the answer is j.p. morgan wealth management i am so happy to be campaigning in whatever swing state i'm in, which i will just refer to as wisconsipennsylvageorgia. because i am going to protect your vageorgia. >> oh, my god. i haven't seen that. >> do you like it? do you like when people -- do you like it? it's fun, right? >> maya rudolph. she's so good. she had the whole thing. the suit, the jewelry. >> the vice president meeting, so to speak, her impression there. we are joined as promised by one of your taller democratic strategists, author of "a more perfect party." full disclosure, i have blurbed

it. and melanie za doana, senior congressional reporter with punch bowl. juanita, there's nothing new about these fact fault lines but we just explored why there's something larger. the vice president says this is when it goes back to governing. this is not just for homework fact check types journalistic types. this matters. >> it matters about what type of leader and the character of a leader. take donald trump at his word when he says he wants to be dictator on day one. he looks up and idolizes dictators like putin. which that covid test hand-off was just very strange to read about today during the peak height of the pandemic. but it comes back to what you stated at the top. look who's hiding now. and as vice president kamala harris is out there making a very important pitch to the voters to understand what they would get with a second trump presidency. donald trump has lost the narltive. he is nowhere near the coverage today, and that allows for the vice president to dominate and set the frame about what people should be thinking about as they

cast their ballots. and i say that knowing that the election is happening now. early voting started two weeks ago. people are casting their ballots with this front of mind. >> and i will say in talking to some of trump's allies, some of his supporters they will tell you at least privately that the more trump talks the more he hurts himself. kind of ironic, given that the gop talking point that's been that democrats want to keep kamala hidden away and she wants to stay in these controlled environments. but if you look at it trump has failed when he's been in these settings where he's confronted or being asked tough questions or being held accountable. look at the first debate even. his performance was actually pretty terrible. it was just overshadowed by joe biden's performance and all his problems as a candidate really came to the forefront with the last debate, which by the way he is still complaining about if you look at his rallies or social media. exactly. not surprising that he declined to go on the "60 minutes" interview. but it does speak to i think what he sees as some of his weaknesses as a candidate. >> right. and that may explain some of the

shift. we showed not only he used to go on stern but even in this recent era he was on "60 minutes." the rallies are decreasing. it's almost like a trump campaign long distance relationship strategy now. if you keep him away and they only see him occasionally maybe they will remember him more fondly than what he's currently like. we could show the rally chart. because it's a huge contrast when you look at the evidence. from 16 where he used those and twitter to sort of barrel into the conversation. can you believe what he said now? and here, fewer rallies and fewer of those sort of moments. as for the governing, take a listen to new from harris on howard stern discussing what presidents do including appointing supreme court members. >> the strength of america includes that we have been committed as americans, it's part of our spirit, to the expansion of rights. >> right. >> and for the first time we're seeing a restriction of rights. and understand if donald trump were to get another term most of

the legal scholars think that there's going to be maybe even two more seats that will be up. >> melanie? >> yeah, that is a central argument that you're hearing from democrats up and down the ballot, is something they're also using in congressional races, right? they're saying this is why it matters to have a democratic-controlled senate, because there could be another supreme court seat that is up for grabs. and we have seen the real-time effects from the donald trump presidency and the supreme court justices he appointed. roe vs. wade of course was overturned. that is something kamala harris has been a really strong messenger on. she's continuing to beat that drum, as are democrats up and down the ballot. and they've also been making the case that perhaps they need to change the senate rules in order to codify roe v. wade. so that is something that is permeating races up and down the ballot. >> on the "60 minutes" of it all, juanita, do you think that it's a net win for harris to have so many people see oh, trump wasn't there? or as some people worried, she ended up being peppered with all these policy questions and he's just not there being questioned.

>> look, i think my granddad used to regularly say 90% of it is showing up. and vice president harris is doing that. i think her ability to respond to the deeper substance of policy is something that you would never get from donald trump anyway. so who knows what that "60 minutes" interview would have looked like? now, being able to break it down, though, with a legacy media outlet i think is important, especially how she balanced her press hits with "call your daddy." call her daddy. which i didn't have on my bingo card for a presidential interview during this election. but i know the play here. even with howard stern. howard stern gets tens of millions of listeners. largely young men. a demographic that donald trump has an advantage with. "call her daddy" is what, the second most listened to podcast by a woman -- >> it's her and rogan. yeah. >> it's a massive demographic of 18 to 35-year-old women, who we know vice president harris is looking to turn out. now, what was interesting after that interview was the split in reaction of that audience where because they're not typically

dabbling in politics like this, especially presidential politics. but what's reassuring is knowing that majority of the listeners are getting this message from harris in a new way that they likely wouldn't have gotten because i don't think there's much crossover between the "60 minutes" audience and the "call her daddy" audience. >> i might be the only one in that category. >> there you go. >> and we salute you for that. it's a fascinating development. and again, you couldn't script it as a more obvious shredding of this talking point, which not just maga, i heard all sorts of people say is she cocooned. we reminded people all the things she was doing the first few weeks. the only person cocooned this week in the media is donald trump and even laura ingraham is having to correct him within the safe space. juanita and melanie, great to see both of you. coming up, elon musk's billionaire bromance with trump and how complicated it's getting even with leaps of joy. and that woodward report i mentioned, we have more detail on that, calling into question not only donald trump's judgment on foreign policy but his

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we're back. and tonight we've been covering many aspects of this campaign, including what is still the most important question for any candidate you are assessing for high office. how will they actually govern? in this case we have a current vice president and a former president. so we have some clues about both of them. and then we get new information. not exactly a full-blown october surprise, but definitely a new revelation from the legendary journalist bob woodward, who is known for tough coverage of every administration. his new book is "war." the whole book comes out october 15th. an inside look at the biden and trump responses to what is obviously this chaotic international order that we've been living through.

woodward has written that trump was unfit to lead, worse than nixon, who woodward and bernstein famously covered in their watergate books and "washington post" coverage that changed the course of history. he says, "it's the most reckless and impulsive president in all of american history." and he details something that overlaps with what kamala harris just said, but for those who think of that as just political rhetoric, this is reporting. that trump did not put the basic public safety or public interest of the american citizenry first or second or anywhere near his priorities and instead trump was vengeful following his election loss. his former campaign manager told woodward he doesn't see '24 as a comeback but rather vengeance and trump has hit on that. take a listen. >> a lot of people will say, well, he's just going to do to them what they did to him and get back at them and -- >> yeah, yeah. a lot of people say that's what should happen. if you want to know the truth.

>> but you're not going to do that. when you get into office you're going to look at all your political enemies -- >> no, i want to make this the most successful country in the world. that's what i want to do. >> woodward then reporting about how donald trump used his office, the powers that he gets from being president, to apparently try to sweeten the pot with someone that most administrations including republicans have seen as an adversary, the dictator of russia, vladimir putin. trump aide telling trump -- i mean excuse me, telling woodward that trump and putin have been speaking on the phone repeatedly since he left office, up to seven times. we can tell you that today trump's spokespeople say that these allegations are just, quote, made up. woodward is standing by his multisource reporting. he will be speaking out, i'm sure, and we'll be tracking that as well. now we turn to the special guest i mentioned, a former deputy press secretary in the trump administration, sarah matthews, who also testified before the january 6th committee and spoke about her experiences and why

she's now backing kamala harris on "the beat" last week. welcome back. >> thank you for having me back. >> let's start with those reports. whether or not you were an eye wints to that we have woodward reporting on trump sharing covid tests with skpooint since leaving office talking with putin. the core allegation is it's somehow for trump, not for the american public. how do you view the reporting? >> yeah, i was not familiar with that reporting. that came out. and it was really alarming to me because we had recent reporting from politico that showed us that during wildfires in california trump didn't want to send relief to americans then until he was shown voter data that they were supporters of his. then you have during the pandemic americans who were suffering and dying because of this once-in-a-lifetime pandemic and people couldn't get a hold of tests but what does he do? he's not sending them to the american people. he's sending them to our adversary, a dictator and a

murderer, vladimir putin. and that just goes to show you that he's buddy-buddy with someone like that because he admires dictators. he wants to emulate them. and he's even said so, that he would be a dictator on day one. and i know a lot of republicans love to say oh, trump's just kidding. well, my pushback to that is who jokes about that? what kind of american president jokes about being a dictator on day one? and i think that it just shows how cozy their relationship is. and that's been one of my points of contention with him actually beyond the things that i have disagreed with him about, january 6th as you mentioned, i testified against him in front of the january 6th committee because i believe he's unfit for a lot of reasons. but another thing is this relationship he has with putin and how i believe he would abandon ukraine. it's definitely something that shines a light further on just how close the two of them are. >> mm-hmm. on this idea of prioritizing somehow sweetening the pot for putin on the covid crisis rather than any other number of things you could do with the tests, the vice president was asked about

this today. this is a big topic. and let's listen to what she said here, airing for the first time. >> donald trump has this desire to be a dictator. he admires strongmen. people were dying by the hundreds. >> yeah. >> everybody was scrambling to get these kits, the tests, the covid test kits. >> you couldn't get them. >> couldn't get them. >> right. >> couldn't get them anywhere. >> right. >> and this guy who was president of the united states is sending them to russia, to a murderous dictator for his personal use? >> when you look at that and then the people still supporting trump, which you were engaged with at this table last week, what is their understanding of this? the fissure on jan 6 relates to all this because it's do you want to be in the democracy business or do you want to be in the dictator business? and he sort of has his cute or maga answers to that. but this isn't rhetoric. this is what he did with a

dictator. how do you see that affecting either the people in that orbit and ultimately the voters who may still be trump curious and may have memory holed some of how he really governed in these crises? >> yeah. i mean, it's so concerning to me just given it clearly shines the light on how close they are. the fact that even in woodward's book we know they've talked at minimum seven times since trump left office. and this is all at a time when putin was invading ukraine. so what was trump talking about on the phone with him? was he undermining u.s. foreign policy and the job of president biden by having these conversations secretly with putin? i mean, who knows what they were discussing? and then i think too for the republicans who will defend donald trump still and will still support him despite this cozy relationship he has with our adversary, vladimir putin, i think that my pushback is it's not even just this covid test example, where that is something appalling to me that he was

sending covid tests to a murderous dictator while americans were dying. but he has said things like that he would give parts of ukraine away to putin and that we need to come to some solution and that might be part of the solution. i believe in fighting for freedom and democracy and supporting our allies. and so i would not like to see that happen in ukraine. i'm not saying we need to write a blank check to ukraine. i know a lot of republicans think we've sent too much money. but i think it's a worthy investment if we can keep the war contained there without it spreading further to our nato allies and without having to put a single american soldier on the ground. and also i think too, this is something i brought up last week on your show, that trump has said that maybe he would let putin invade our ukraine -- our nato allies because they're not contributing enough to nato and so he has made kind of these i think lighthearted remarks saying oh, maybe we should -- >> people hear the signal. yeah. >> but we should take donald

trump at his word. he doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt. >> i'm running over on time but i have one more question for you. you know we keep it real around here. we had that panel last week. and i heard from a lot of people directly and in public that they really appreciated what you said, which is not easy sitting with some of your former colleagues, and as you know we try to bring people within reason on here with facts. to have these conversations. so i wonder if you'd just enlighten us, share with the audience, why was it important to you to talk directly in what can't be an easy scenario with former colleagues, some of whom said they were against trump for jan 6 but took it back, others who literally went to prison for him, but to do that directly? because i think it's valuable at a time where we're witnessing trump maga lying and trump avoid anything forum that has that direct interaction and you stood up and did it. i just wondered if you'd share your thinking on that. >> yeah. i think it's really important for us to have these conversations with folks like that. by ignoring them the issue isn't going to go away. even if donald trump is defeated

in november, maga is not going to go away. i think that is still going to be within the republican party. and so we need to confront it head on, be willing to call out these people and fact check them to their face. and that is what i was hoping to do during that conversation with some of my former colleagues. and i want to set an example too that i'm not afraid to sit there and have these conversations even if you know it might be a little contentious because i know that i have the facts on my side and the moral argument on my side. so for those who -- i know some of the republicans out there who have since changed their tune who said that they were done with donald trump after january 6th and for one reason or another are now supporting him again, i often think it's because they place their ambition over what is good for the country. i want to be an example and say no, i think that we need to call out donald trump for his falsehoods and even if it's been politically detrimental to my career in some way for, you know, not being able to maybe work in the republican party i'm willing to take a stand and do what's right and have these open and honest conversations even if

they get a little contentious. >> sarah matthews, appreciate your voice and appreciate you coming back. >> thank you. >> thank you. we'll be right back with jason johnson on the elon leap. clark. if you have both medicare and medicaid, i have some really encouraging news that you'll definitely want to hear. depending on the plans available in your area, you may be eligible to get extra benefits with a humana medicare advantage dual-eligible special needs plan. most plans include the humana healthy options allowance. a monthly allowance to help pay for eligible groceries, utilities, rent, and over-the-counter items. the healthy options allowance is loaded onto a prepaid card each month. and whatever you don't spend, carries over from each month. plus, your doctor, hospital and pharmacy may already be part of our large humana networks. so, call the number on your screen now, and ask about a humana medicare advantage dual-eligible special needs plan. and remember,

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elon musk, donald trump and jason johnson. that is this segment in a nutshell. one of those people is here. muszing's giddy leap at that trump rally has launched memes and jokes. people are likening him to the

australian break dancer at the summer olympics, if you remember how that went. i've just inserted it there. shout out to creative dancing. or trump and musk being given the energy of a classic simpsons moment. late night also getting in on the action. >> he's acting like a guy that won a radio contest. oh! i can't believe i get to bid on the washer and dryer! >> this photo tells you all you need to know about -- because it's rare you get to see two devils making a deal with each other. but it does happen. >> trump praised elon musk for saving free speech with x. and elon praised trump for making truth social so bad that people still use x. >> joining us is jason johnson, host of the podcast "a word with jason johnson," a professor and our friend around here. your thoughts. >> i have never seen such try hard energy from the richest man in the world. i mean, look, elon musk has always said he used to be a democrat for a long time.

he soured on biden. now he's voting for trump. but he's not a popular guy. he doesn't really add much to the trump campaign. his disapproval rating, only 6% of democratic voters actually approve of elon musk. he's in the 90s as far as democrats who have a negative opinion of him. >> and real quick, we're going to keep the photo up. does that approval change at all when he's airborne? >> it doesn't. it keel goes lower. the higher he gets. as people get more concerned that his belly is going to be exposed, we see way too much of the guy. >> and i say that respectfully because i'm fine with people's excitement. that's the least concerning thing about him. but it is a photo for the ages. >> it's a photo for the ages. these two have a lot in common. they've both been sued for discrimination. they both use social media in order to incite violence and difficult issues one way or another. but i don't think that elon musk helps donald trump at all. he helps himself because he's desperate to be liked. >> i've reported on this extensively and i've made the point whether people want to hear it or not that there is a part of elon musk's business record that is effective, that is interesting, and that has had

a net positive environmental impact for the world. so that's the business. >> yes. >> and yet here we are talking about what you just said, the politics and the rhetoric. the rhetoric has been dangerous and hypocritical. and the politics are this sort of billionaire cabal which we know isn't real because they told us. quick headlines. "washington post," on elon musk saying very recently post first terminal trump should go away into the sunset and trukt predictably of course anyone that doesn't like him he doesn't like, saying that musk is sloppy, driverless cars crash, rocket ships to nowhere. does it matter, for the voters who are looking and might think i don't follow politics closely, that guy's successful, so he's with another guy, they must be successful together, does it matter that these two men actually do not publicly recently respect each other at all? >> didn't matter for j.d. vance. >> didn't matter to the voters. >> didn't matter to the voters. the people who like donald trump they're going to like anybody who happens to be in his orbit.

i think the problem is elon musk has managed to offend so many people. remember, he was just on with a former talk show host spouting conspiracy theories about the epstein list and why people did and did not support trump. i mean, everything he says offends so many people across the spectrum that it may be helpful to him, may be good for his brand, and donald trump loves sycophants. he loves people that used to hate him to come back and say i love you now. but it doesn't necessarily help him. >> explain the mike jones reference for the people. >> people used to be down on me and now they all want me. basically that's donald trump. these people used to hate me now they're in my orbit. >> i believe it goes last week they didn't want me. now y'all all on me. >> all on me. >> i didn't know you were going to bring it up. but that's one of the reasons -- and by the way i donate know what your leaping skills are like. i don't know if you're a good leaping endorser. >> i'm not a good leaping endorser. >> this is going to be a shocker, neither am i. when i play pickup basketball i stay very close to the ground. so again i want to say respectfully i might look like

elon if i did that too. but maybe we also know not to do it. >> exactly. not at a trump rally. >> i'm just thinking out loud. i appreciate you, jason. a lot going on in politics. a lot more on '24 and julia when we return. t more on '24 and juln we return. new downy comfy cozy combines softness and scent for an elevated cozy we call... cozé. transform your everyday with new downy comfy cozy. it not only combines softness and scent. it breathes life into your laundry. subject 1: who's coming in the driveway? subject 2: dad! dad! dad, we missed you! daddy, hi! subject 3: goodness! my daughter is being treated for leukemia. i hope that she lives a long, great, happy life and that she will never forget how mom and daddy love her.

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announcer: join with your debit or credit card now, and we'll send you this st. jude t-shirt that you can proudly wear. [speaking spanish] subject 7: are you ready to go have some fun? subject 8: yeah! subject 7: yay! subject 9: when we came here, we didn't know what tomorrow would hold. st. jude showed us that tomorrow there's hope for our little girl to survive. announcer: let's cure childhood cancer together. please donate now. my name's trevor. i've tried other diets in the past never lasted before too long my cravings came back especially my sugar cravings and i fell off the wagon. release worked fast. my sweet tooth is gone. i'm so happy with my progress and now i love myself.

we always had dogs, they're like my best buddies. yep, had them my whole life. c'mon bo! so we got him and he is a, an absolute joy. daddy's puppy. once we got on the farmer's dog he just attacks it, it's incredible. they're so tuned into you and they have such, such personality. being without a dog, i don't know, can't imagine it. [laughter] julie louis-dreyfus is out campaigning for kamala harris and the democrats. we just got to host her to discuss a special event she did

with seinfeld co-stars and others raising money in wisconsin and campaigning. now, i have something from that interview we have not aired yet. you're about to see this for the first time. we didn't have time to air it in the original interview, an exchange where she talked about finding connection with not only your values but the world of arts. >> we have something fun. we made it for you, but we didn't really make it because you made it. we thought, you know, with you getting together with larry and everyone else, we have a look at, again, i have to keep it real. i can't claim i'm not a seinfeld fan. i'm not a veep fan, funniest show in politics. so we made it for you. we're going to take a look at this, give you one more response and let you go. let's take a look at our favorite moments. >> what the hell am i? >> you're bald.

>> what about a prison specifically interests you? >> jail. >> for sure. >> blessth him that gives and him that takes. >> can i tell you something, my friend? >> tell me. >> when you make appointments, keep it. >> george costanza. >> yeah. >> is getting married. >> you know what, why don't you put on your running shoes and get to the point, jonah. >> so, the only question is, go ahead. you have anything to say? >> i don't have anything to say. i had no idea we were going to be revisiting all these shows and movies. i'm delighted. >> yeah. we're delighted. we sometimes ask people and this is your "beat" debut. we asked people who had

interesting lives, what do you take from it that you would impart either to your younger self who wants to be heard. anything you want to share before you go off and do your political work this weekend. >> oh, my goodness. well, what would i say? i would say connect. i would say connect with people. i would say find your community and sometimes that's hard, particularly nowadays because we're all on the internet and social media and all that, but i would say put down your phone, find your people, and find a way to make art and joy with them. i know that sounds almost pollyanna-ish, but it kind of makes sense. and actually, speaking of phones and so on, you can make movies and you can make tv shows on your phone right now, so for those people who are feeling artistic and want to create

their own -- i mean, it's ald being done. i don't know why i'm saying this. people are doing it anyway, but it's a great opportunity that i didn't have, you know, years ago when i was first starting out, just to take my phone and make something with it. it's quite amazing. so i don't know, but i think connecting with others and looking for fun and joy is the way to do it. i'm all for it. >> great points from julia. you can see the entire interview unedited at msnbc.com/ari right now. we'll be right back. we'll be ri. and wants to give them a give you tax c uts. well, i'm not rich as hell. kamala harris will cut taxes for working people and make billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share. trump is fighting for rich guys like himself. kamala is fighting for us. [narrator] ff pac is responsible for the content of this ad. i go by jackie, i■m 44 years old. i had three kids at the time and single mother.

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